Local starfish appearing to be dying of a disease spreading along the West Coast that causes the invertebrates to lose their arms -- and in the most advanced cases disintegrate.

"It's some of the worst stuff we've seen on starfish in this area," said Joe Tyburczy, a California Sea Grant Extension scientist. "It's potentially important because sea stars are an important predator in the intertidal, and they consume mussels, and mussels are really good at occupying a lot of space and pushing other things out.

"So, if there are fewer sea stars, there may be more mussels and less diversity because the sea stars open up space," he said.

On Sunday night, Humboldt State University marine biologists and students conducted surveys at Luffenholtz to determine the extent of the damage caused by sea star wasting disease. Tyburczy estimates about 20 percent of local sea stars exhibit at least mild symptoms, including losing pigment and developing open sores. Sick stars have also been found at Trinidad State Beach.

"It's a noticeable percentage, or we wouldn't all be looking at it if it was just a random one in one place," Tyburczy said.

From Vancouver, British Columbia to Santa Barbara, starfish are dying of the disease.

"I think people are trying to see whether it's a virus or a bacteria," Tyburczy said. "Diseases in the ocean are notoriously difficult to figure out because you might detect bacteria on a sick sea star, but is the bacteria causing it? Or is the bacteria already there, just breaking down on something that's already there?"

HSU scientists began conducting surveys about a month ago after noticing some of the sea stars collected in the wild and brought to the Telonicher Marine Lab became sick and died.

"We noticed the collected animals we brought back to the lab autotomized so rapidly they fell apart," HSU marine biologist Kathryn McDonald said. "We've never seen anything like it."